Making a neighborhood connection Eureka resident interested in new designs that get people talking -- to each other

By Kimberly Wear The Times-Standard

While living halfway across the world, Scott Menzies learned what he would like to see in his own back yard -- communities encouraging interaction between neighbors and places where a car isn't always a necessity.

The 33-year-old Eureka resident came to appreciate the importance of those elements during two years of Peace Corps service in Nepal, another three years teaching English in Taiwan and extensive travels across Asia over six years, including a trek to Mount Everest.

In that time, he experienced village living without electricity or indoor plumbing and grew to appreciate the concept of having businesses and residences side by side. Despite the size of Taiwan, Menzies said he and his girlfriend Emily got to know their local noodle shop owners and other neighbors because so much of what they needed was in walking distance.

After finding his way back to the North Coast in late 2003, Menzies borrowed some pages from the Peace Corps mission and began a fledgling organization called Realizing Community that is "dedicated to promoting policy and action which will encourage the flourishing of natural and healthy communities."

"Since I've returned I've seen a lot of things I want to fix and I think community design can help fix problems ranging from the cost of living to the problems my mother faces in terms of caring for foster children," Menzies said. "It's all about bringing people together. If you have a happy community, you'll have healthy families. If you have healthy families, you'll have healthy children."

A native of San Francisco, who went to high school in Sacramento, Menzies will be going back to Humboldt State University in fall to begin pursuing a master's degree with his thesis centering on the subject of community design.

He received his bachelor's degree in biology with a minor in botany there in 1995 before setting off to see the world.

"I saw pictures of the big trees and that was it," Menzies said. "It was the only place I applied."

Menzies, who also teaches Tai Ji Quan at HSU, said he has also been involved in the county's general plan process, attending meetings on the issue.

But people might recognize his name from another pursuit, which he calls his secondary mission: Educating people about election reform.

Menzies recently found himself in the news after helping put together a forum looking at voter reform issues. He and members of the Voter Confidence Committee gave a presentation on how ranked-choice voting -- used in San Francisco and under consideration in Davis -- works.

Menzies said he sees a connection between satisfaction with the electoral process with "making communities tighter."

His main interest is in finding ways to reduce stress and simplify people's lives, taking them out of their cars and back to connecting with their neighborhoods. But, Menzies said he also knows everyone has to make their own decisions about modern technologies.

On his last visit back to the rural village where he taught in the Peace Corps, Menzies found the people now had electricity generated by solar panels and hydro power. What was the first thing most of them hooked up? Television sets.

"I certainly appreciate the opportunity I had to see what it was like without all of that stuff because now I know where it fits in my life," Menzies said.

When this story was posted in May 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:

The Peace Corps LibraryPeace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today.

Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.

Read the stories and leave your comments.

Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: Times-Standard

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Nepal; Community Design

PCOL2022432

.

Add a Message

This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.